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Dolphins GM Jeff Ireland was impressed with the crowd that amassed at Sun Life Stadium on Saturday morning, but it had nothing to do with football.

More than 20,000 people showed up to support the Dan Marino Foundation’s WalkAbout Autism event, the largest crowd in the event’s three-year history. Ireland and Marino both have children afflicted with autism, and their WalkAbout event has now raised more than $1.4 million in three years for Marino’s foundation, which benefits autism organizations in Broward and Dade counties.

“It’s grown into something much larger than we ever expected,” Ireland said Saturday morning. “We’re trying to affect this community and bring awareness and raise money for the organizations that have really helped us.”

It has been 22 years since Marino’s son Michael, now 24, was diagnosed with autism, and Marino is amazed at how much autism awareness has spread over the past two decades. Marino said the most important development in dealing with autism is catching it early in a child’s life.

“Early intervention is important, because then you can start working on the issues that your child and your family might have,” Marino said.

Ireland, whose twin daughters both have autism, said he has developed a support group amongst people in the NFL who have children with autism – a group consisting of players, coaches and three or four general managers. Ireland pointed out that one in 88 children is afflicted with autism.

“You just don’t realize how many people are affected by autism,” Ireland said. “But this isn’t a lasting disorder. You can help them out, and we have to continue to raise awareness for this disorder.”